Karl Rove, President Bush's political lieutenant, told a closed-door meeting of 2008 Republican House candidates and their aides Tuesday that it was less the war in Iraq than corruption in Congress that caused their party's defeat in the 2006 elections.

IN ‘08, the Republican candidate for president will have to run in all directions away from the current occupant of the White House in order to win. Mr. President, you got yours - you got to be a two-term president - and I want to thank you so much for all your help with trying to elect a Republican as your successor.

Corruption, uncontrolled spending . . . . . in fact the inability to distinguish between Democrats and Republicans had a great deal to do with the ‘06 loss.

The drive-bys can characterize it any way that they like. The reality is that the strong negativity that they and the Dems have generated toward Bush and the ‘Pubbies, PLUS the actions by the ‘Pubbies that made them indistinguishable from liberals all contributed to the ‘06 loss.

So far, there is no comprehensible response by the ‘Pubbies to reclaim their conservative values in ‘08 - there is only a greater disaster by the Democrats that has given the Congress overall a lower approval rating than Bush! Definitiely something to ponder!!

Well, Rove isn’t entirely correct. I think the do nothing Congress bought it on itself. No more limp wristed wimps like Bill Frists!!!! And the Administration’s stubborn stance refusing to secure our borders ranked high as well.

7
posted on 07/30/2007 10:58:24 AM PDT
by Paperdoll
( Vote for Duncan Hunter in the Primaries for America's sake!)

Get real. The Iraq war is unpopular and of course it contributed to our getting pounded in 06. The left wing media creates the discontent, but it is real nonetheless. It also doesn’t help that the GOP spits in the faces of conservatives with illegal alien amnesties, refusing to secure the borders, and spending money like Ted Kennedy on a drunken bender. Illegal immigration can be our issue in 2008. If our candidate is the guy who will secure the borders (not just promise it but do it) we could beat Hillary. If our guys continue to act like democrats, we are toast. Get your prayer rug ready so you can be like Vice-President Hussein Obama.

Whatever the circumstances were in 2004, we all must consider that in 2008 it will be Hillary against someone else. If that doesn’t scare you enough to vote for “someone else”, nothing else will matter.

Agreed the Iraq war was unpopular; however, in my opinion, the scandals is what really did the Republicans in. The months before the election is was like Christmas morning for the dims. From corruption to pedophiles the Republicans had it all!

Whoever thinks the Iraq war didn’t have anything to do with the Republicans losing Congress is naive and are fooling themselves. Yes, there were other factors but the Iraq war was one of the major ones. Granted the media, day after day was rooting for the Republicans to lose Congress and did all they could to emphasize corruption and scandals. CNN was close to outright on the side of the Democrats wanting a party change. But the steady drumbeat of bad news coverage from Iraq really sealed the coffin.

Rove doesn’t have a clue. While the Republicans were sitting around with their thumb up their butt, the Democrats were pushing their agenda so they won the election. The problem for the Dems is that the Democrats haven’t done schick since the election. They have no agenda. What little they have done has been met with white teeth and steppin feet by the Republicans. The Republicans need to start sounding off about the impotence of the Democrats.

The great thing is that the Democrats can’t do anything without drawing the ire of the peace and impeachment nutbags.

21
posted on 07/30/2007 11:22:49 AM PDT
by AppyPappy
(If you aren't part of the solution, there is good money to be made prolonging the problem.)

It has much more to do with Immigration, MSM's one-sided highlight of corruption on the GOP end...and the reality of history where the party out of power has always picked up seats in the 6th year of a POTUS -

The GOP candidate wins in 08, if he stands firm on victory in the WOT/Iraq (touts our successes), is firm on immigration and continued tax policy of GWB.

The DEMs lose on NS/WOT.....which is why the MSM are trying all they can to get the GOP to run away from those issues...

I’d argue with Rove that corruption was just a symptom of a lack of strong leadership to congressional republicans from either the President, the RNC, or the congressional leadership.

That is why the House has a “Whip”. To keep the coffle in line. When a congressman or senator decided to break ranks, he should have been strongly disciplined from day one. Such independence is no more tolerable among congressmen than it is in a military formation.

I think we conservatives have to share some of the blame. Going into the 2004 election, it was apparent that the Republican Congress and W were turning into the biggest spenders in history. All completely corrupted by special interests. We were fat dumb and happy having all the power and did not hold their feet to the fire. Maybe if we had screamed out the way we did against amnesty, things might be different today.

I believe the case can be made that the anger in 2004 against Republicans as it related to the ballot box was just wrong headed. A vote against Republicans in spite of the consequences we now experience with a Dimocrap Congress should be a wakeup call. I’m not saying that all Republicans should have been reelected but Republican alternatives would have been better.

The Dems did a pretty good job convincing the voting public that the Republicans were infested with pedophiles and openly cruising gays ~ and that Hastert and other Republican leaders just didn't care.

Not sure that helped the Dems with their little gay friends but it worked with the Republican base.

The recent discovery that an adult male Republican, David Vitter, actually liked girls, quickly disappeared from the news once the Dems and their running dog MSM lackeys realized that was undermining the pedophile routine that was so successful in the last election.

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